Posts Tagged ‘New Hampshire’

Will Arvelo is the director of the New Hampshire Division of Economic Development. – ed.

Diversity plays a valuable role in our communities and state; from it comes fresh ideas, innovation and new ways to look at old ways. Insuring that New Hampshire’s population continues to diversify and be inclusionary is a priority of the Division of Economic Development.

Data shows that New Hampshire’s population is becoming more diverse. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the non-white population, including those that identify with two or more races, increased to 6.4 percent in 2017 and Latinos make up almost 4 percent of the population.

While these percentages may seem small in comparison to southern New England, it is undeniable that New Hampshire is changing and becoming more diverse.

As New Hampshire continues to evolve as part of a broader international community and as the U.S. continues to see significant demographic changes, the demographics within our state will also shift to reflect those changes.

In 2012, 21 percent of the U.S. population was non-white, or of two or more races. Also that year, 17 percent of the total U.S. population was of Latino/Hispanic descent. By 2060, the U.S. non-white population and those with two races or more will exceed 30 percent and those of Latino descent will also exceed 30 percent.

For our employers who are increasingly concerned about their ability to attract and retain a diverse workforce, this diversification is welcome in New Hampshire. Many are instituting initiatives to make their workplaces more welcoming and accepting of, not only different ways of thinking, but people’s differences. We also know that younger people, white and non-white, prefer to be in diverse communities, whether that be their workplaces or living spaces.

This is good for all of us.

New Hampshire, like its neighboring states, is still challenged in its efforts to attract and retain a more diverse demographic. To that end, we are focusing on ways to be a state that is welcoming, accepting, and supportive. If we are to widen our competitive advantage, we need a diverse workforce.

There are many efforts in corporations, including Eversource, Eastern Bank, Hutchinson and others, and communities building advocacy and sustainability to achieve this goal. In addition, agencies including The Endowment for Health; Diversity Workforce Coalition; NAACP of the Seacoast; AARP, Welcome New Hampshire and many others that are working to make improvements across our state.

The Governor’s Advisory Council on Diversity and Inclusion will be central to this effort, with its recommendations due later this year. They will be used to create a sweeping, unifying strategy that brings all these efforts together to leverage resources, build a collective vision, build capacity, and have deep impact within a short time.

On July 26, a statewide working group will meet to begin building a unified, strong, sustainable effort around diversity and inclusion. Doing so will make New Hampshire more welcoming and attractive within our increasingly diverse nation and it will allow us to build a society reflective of diverse ways of being and thinking. It will also allow New Hampshire to continue to build and sustain its diverse economy and remain competitive regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Now that the kids are back in school, it seems like a good time to round up the rankings that came out over the summer in which New Hampshire fared well when it came to business climate, education, quality of life and more.

Rankings are an enlightening look in from the outside, although they don’t tell the whole story, nor should they be anything upon which we rest.

“We met with 13 European industry clusters (Tuesday), all in different advanced manufacturing areas,” Lorentz said. “We talked about how we might work together to match New Hampshire and European businesses for joint R&D projects.”

Throughout the five-day show, Lorentz and Kasim are scheduled to meet with representatives from more than 30 companies, from places like Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, France and Belgium, which have businesses and manufacturers that complement our key industries. The goal of attending this trade show is to make connections with international companies that may have an interest in investing here; forming partnerships; or expansion or relocation to the US.

One New Hampshire company is also exhibiting at the show. Jewell Instruments, which is located in Manchester, is a world leader in the manufacture and distribution of acceleration and tilt sensors, as well as avionics components, solenoids and panel meters. Its JMA-165 MEMS accelerometer has been nominated for Direct Industry’s i-NOVO Design Award.

Hanover Messe has 17 huge exhibit halls and over the course of the show, more than 200,000 people are projected to pass through there. There is great value in being here to tell the New Hampshire business story to an international audience.

About 8.5 million people are expected to visit New Hampshire this fall, according to our friends down the hall at the Division of Travel and Tourism Development. That’s an increase of about 5 percent over last fall and they are projected to spend $1.3 billion, up 7 percent over last year.

The fall season is historically the second busiest in New Hampshire, attracting more than 25 percent of all visitors to New Hampshire annually.

Most visitors will come here from the New England and mid-Atlantic markets, but thanks to low gas prices, expect to see an increase in overnight visits from more distant states, including Florida, California, Illinois and Texas.

Just in time for autumn, Visit New Hampshire launched a new foliage tracker aimed at helping visitors plan their peak adventure. The interactive, mobile-friendly tracker offers regional reports of New Hampshire’s stunning scenery, lodging and dining suggestions, points of interest around the state, and images from a network of leaf peepers.

Visitors can plan their New Hampshire Fall Adventure with help from VisitNH.gov. The Vacation Inspiration website has a guide to help get the most out of fall, including scenic drives, places to pick your own, a go-to guide for antiquing, and much more. Visitors are encouraged to share their New Hampshire fall foliage images with New Hampshire tourism on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, by using #nhfoliage.

Spring is in the air and if you’re an entrepreneur, this means one thing — business plan competition season. Over the next two months, entrepreneurs and start-up companies have the opportunity to win over $230,000 in cash and in-kind services through four start up competitions: The Dartmouth Ventures Entrepreneurial Contest, the MYPN Start Up Challenge, the Startup Rochester Business Competition and the Holloway Prize Innovation-to-Market Competition.

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your start-ups …

Dartmouth Ventures Entrepreneurial Contest

On Saturday (April 5), three start-up businesses will vie for $100,000 in cash and prizes at the Dartmouth Ventures Entrepreneurial Contest, open to anyone with a Dartmouth College affiliation. The contest is part of Dartmouth Ventures, an annual conference on entrepreneurship established in 2002.

All attendees of Dartmouth Ventures will have the opportunity to vote for a People’s Choice winner during the Entrepreneurial Contest. The People’s Choice winner will take home $2,500 in cash and additional in-kind services. For information on attending Dartmouth Ventures click here.

Holloway Prize Innovation-to-Market Competition

Similar to the Dartmouth Ventures competition, the Holloway Prize Innovation to Market Competition is hosted by the Paul School of Business at the University of New Hampshire, open to students within the University System of New Hampshire. The Holloway Prize is in its 26th year and has a history of applicants going on to create sustainable and profitable companies.

The most notable entry came from Joe Faro in 1991. He founded Tuscan Brands, Tuscan Market and Joseph’s Pasta, which he sold for $60 million to Nestle. Faro credits part of his success to his participation in the Holloway Prize, which encouraged him to create a business plan that was realistic and sustainable.

The Holloway Prize is worth over $100,000 in cash and in-kind services and championship round begins at 1 pm, May 7 at the Paul College. For more information on the Holloway Competition and the Charles and Miriam Nelson Poster Competition, click here.

MYPN Start Up Challenge

The Manchester Young Professionals Network started the MYPN Start Up Challenge in 2006 to encourage and promote entrepreneurship in the young professional community. The competition is open to New Hampshire start-ups and applications will be accepted until April 18. Over the past five years, $210,000 in cash and in-kind services have been awarded to New Hampshire startups. This year’s winner will receive more than $55,000 in cash and in-kind services.

One of the many start up success stories from the Start Up Challenge is Nearby Registry, which won in 2012. Allison Grappone’s 2009 wedding was the inspiration, when she and her husband channeled the frustration they had when they were unable to support their favorite local businesses through the traditional gift registry model. So like any entrepreneur, Grappone developed a website that enables people to create a registry for wedding, birthdays and other events using small businesses from all over the state. Since winning the Start Up Challenge, Nearby Registry has grown to three full-time staff and is expanding its business into Seattle, Portland, Ore., and Vermont. The company has signed on more than 150 storefronts in New Hampshire and Seattle and has kept over $18,000 and counting in the local economy.

The MYPN Start Up Challenge semi-final event is May 15 and the winner will be announced June 17 at the NHIOP at Saint Anselm College. To learn more about the MYPN Start Up Challenge or submit an application, click here.

Startup Rochester Business Competition

Similar to the MYPN Start Up Challenge, the Start Up Rochester Business Competition is open to New Hampshire startups that have not raised more than $100,000 in funding. Applications will be accepted until April 8.

This is the second year of the competition, which started as a partnership between the Rochester Community and Economic Development Division and the abi Innovation Hub. Last year’s winner, Kinetic Surface Control, is a growing company in Newmarket that develops technology to strip paint and corrosion from metal, concrete, asphalt and other surfaces. This year’s applicants will compete for a $20,000 cash-and-in-kind prize package at the final event on May 8. To learn more about the business competition or submit an application, click here.

New Hampshire is a great place to start and grow a business and these competitions are a perfect complement to the expanding New Hampshire start-up ecosystem, thanks to the incredible – and enthusiastic – efforts of our incubators around the state and the hundreds of start-ups created each year.

Dignitaries from New Hampshire and France took part in this morning’s ribbon cutting at Safran’s new manufacturing plant in Rochester.

This afternoon’s ribbon cutting in Rochester was so much more than the opening of a new manufacturing plant, where Safran and Albany International Corp. have co-located to produce composite parts for the US and French governments.

“This is a significant milestone, not only for our two companies, but for our customers and partners in the aerospace industry and for the city of Rochester and the state of New Hampshire,” said Joseph Morone, president and CEO of Albany International. “We are opening an identical sister plant in Commercy, France and this is a first of its kind in the aerospace industry. The manufacturing technology and the product being produced with that technology are new to the world …”

New to the world … right here in New Hampshire.

“What a great day for Rochester and New Hampshire,” said Gov. Maggie Hassan. “This is a shining example of the kind of innovative business that has New Hampshire as well-positioned as any state to lead the country in economic growth.”

Rochester Mayor TJ Jean called the grand opening of the plant a celebration “of the power of partnerships,” between the two companies, between the local, state and federal officials who made sure the resources would be available, and “the community college system, which will help train our workforce.”

As manufacturing ramps up in this new plant, hundreds of more jobs will be added to 130 already in place. They will work to produce 3D woven composite parts using RTM technology for aircraft engines parts.”Our presence in Rochester reflects our commitment to this state and the US,” said Jean-Paul Herteman, chairman and CEO of Safran. “Our aim is to continue to expand our position and to contribute to the development of the aerospace and security markets as an American company, to ensure optimum service for our civil and military customers here.”

More than an opening of a new manufacturing plant, today’s event clears New Hampshire’s aerospace and defense industries for take-off.

Editor’s Note: Next year – 2014 — and full implementation of the Affordable Care Act will come sooner than many realize. Only recently have many small businesses begun to take stock of what impact the ACA will have on them and their employees. Tom Raffio, president and CEO of Northeast Delta Dental provides some relevant information to help New Hampshire small businesses in that analysis.

Beginning Jan. 1, the Affordable Care Act will require individuals to maintain health insurance, employers to make available ‘affordable’ health insurance to employees and states to establish health benefit exchanges, which are web-based marketplaces for medical and dental plans. Like individuals who will pay a penalty for failure to maintain health coverage, employers, too, can be subject to financial penalties for failing to meet their ACA obligations. One big exception: Employers with fewer than 50 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees are exempt from at least that employer penalty.

The health benefit exchanges will serve two markets, although both will be accessed via one website; the individual exchange and the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) exchange. Since New Hampshire did not set up its own state-based exchange, individuals and small businesses in New Hampshire will access the federal individual and SHOP exchanges to shop for health and dental plans.

Thomas Raffio

Carriers planning to offer medical and dental plans to New Hampshire residents on the exchanges are designing and filing plans with the New Hampshire Insurance Department that meet the ACA’s requirements. Carriers, too, have obligations under the ACA, some of which will significantly change what small businesses have seen in plans of prior years. For example, all plans in the individual and small group markets must cover the “essential health benefits” (prescription drug coverage, emergency services, maternity and newborn care are three of them). And, employers must offer plans that meet the “minimum essential coverage” standard, which is an actuarial value of at least 60 percent.

A recent study found that 44 percent of employers feel morally obligated to offer health coverage to their employees. It is not a surprise, then, that many businesses are truly struggling to do right by their employees, but they do not have the information needed to make the best healthcare coverage decisions for their long-term financial interests and their employees. You can read up on exchanges now at www.healthcare.gov, a website that will convert to the federal exchange portal this summer. The U.S. Small Business Administration’s website, www.sba.gov, is another good resource. And, before you calculate how much your business can contribute to your employees’ coverage, go to the IRS’s website, www.irs.gov, to determine if your business is eligible for the Small Business Health Tax Credit, which can equal up to 50 percent of your workers’ health care premiums.

I don’t advise you to rely on a blog for matters as critical as these, so it is best to consult your benefits team to answer questions, such as how to calculate FTE employees, whether your plans meet the ‘affordable’ standard, whether your business is eligible for the small business tax credit and others.

The state scored an A+ and ranked third for its overall friendliness for small businesses. We are one of just four states in the entire country that earned the top rating and we had the highest grade in New England.

Last year, we came in with an ‘A.’

“This is a very respectable report card for New Hampshire,” said Jeffrey Rose, commissioner of the Department of Resources and Economic Development. “The high marks reflect the state’s commitment to maintaining an environment that encourages businesses and their employees to succeed.”

The 2013 study, the second annual one conducted by the company, draws upon data from over 7,000 small business owners nationwide. Thumbtack.com is an internet marketplace for services.

Last year, New Hampshire ranked 5th in the nation for ease in starting a business; this year, it rose to second place, behind Idaho.

The survey, conducted by the Kauffman Foundation, takes into account things like ease of starting a business (A+); ease of hiring (A+); zoning (A). The lowest score we received was a B for training and networking programs.

New Hampshire members of Thumbtack.com posted notes on doing business in New Hampshire.

“It has been very easy doing business in New Hampshire. I feel like it’s up to me whether I succeed.” Consultant, Sandown

“New Hampshire has fewer regulations than Massachusetts, and that makes a big difference for us.” Builder, Exeter

Got an idea for starting a business here in the Granite State? Start right here.

Moments after Jeffrey Rose was sworn in as commissioner of the Department of Resources and Economic Development, he said this is a fitting day for a new beginning.

Not only is it his first day on the job, but it’s opening day for the Boston Red Sox.

“For those who know me well, they know I am a huge fan of baseball,” Commissioner Rose said following his swearing-in ceremony. “The optimism, the hope, the renewal and all that lies before you is what opening day is all about and it is with that enthusiasm that I approach today, with this new job and new role.”

“There’s a lot of work to do,” said Gov. Maggie Hassan. “I think Jeff already knows, but he will discover, that the people of New Hampshire are the best resources we have.”

Rose comes to DRED from BAE Systems in Nashua. He grew up in Merrimack, spends time at the family’s getaway in Campton and brings to his new job a passion for New Hampshire and all the things that make it a wonderful place.

“I’m truly excited about this opportunity and all that is ahead,” he said. “As someone who has grown up and spent virtually his entire life here, I can’t think of more exciting opportunity and I look forward to doing wonderful things on behalf of the state of New Hampshire.”

W.S. Badger Co., in Gilsum, NH, worked with the Office of International Commerce to research potential export markets.

Like many small business owners, Kathleen Johnson juggles everything from overseeing the manufacturing process to marketing her product, Lickity Bits.

Located up in the North Country town of Columbia, it caters to owners of horses by encouraging horses to accept bits. She has a niche product, but knows that she could grow … well … unbridled … especially outside the U.S.

“As a small business owner, it is a daunting task trying to navigate through international markets that may be available,” Kathleen said.

“We learned that Brazil is a potentially key market for us, since it has the third highest horse market worldwide and prospering economy,” she said.

The OIC received a grant from the Eastern Trade Council to provide market research about the Brazilian market to her and several other businesses.

Why Brazil? The South American country has the seventh largest economy in the world, which is weathering the global economic challenges better than other parts of the globe. With a diversified economy and an expected surge in infrastructure improvements from now until the 2016 Summer Olympics being held there, U.S.exports are increasing rapidly.

“In a very competitive market, (the research) located one company interested in receiving information from WMI,” said Frank Morabito, the company’s international sales product manager.

Out in the Monadnock region, W.S. Badger Co. makes organic body care products, employing about 40 people at its new Gilsum plant. No stranger to the OIC, it has worked several times with the staff, most recently to help find a distribution partner in Russia.

“This service proved itself very valuable, as it allowed us to enter the market with a company that is screened and trusted,” said Stephanie Ritchie, Badger’s international accounts manager. “Our sales have grown slowly, but steadily, and we look forward to continuing to expand our business inRussia.”

If your company is considering exporting, you may be eligible for a grant that will pay for market research. The funds are part of the State Trade Export Promotion grant, which will, for qualifying businesses, provide these services at no cost. Available through the U.S. Commercial Service, the research usually costs between $500 and $750.

Orders for the services must be placed by mid-September. For more information, contact Kasim at 603-271-8444 or email Tina.Kasim@dred.state.nh.us.